That's not a bad idea. DD1 was home from college over break and had a cow when I used the word "vulva" with dd2 who is 20 months. She said it's a gross word and nobody uses it. She said she calls her "stuff" her vagina, no matter if it's on the inside or outside and she's sticking to it. Even though she knows it's wrong!

I'm with her. I don't care for the words labia or vulva.

My friends and I went to a sex shop, and my nursing school friend kept holding things up and saying words like "Labia Majora" , "glans" and "Vulva", I thought we were going to be thrown out and banned from the store. I threatened to leave her there if she didn't start using dirty words.

Wait... you were in a sex shop... and she was using correct terms... and did you want her to start using dirty words or did you think she was using dirty... correct terms in a sex shop won't get you kicked out. Oh this is funny... so again you were in a sex shop... surrounded by sex toys? And you were offended by words? Very interesting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nextcommercial

I'm with her. I don't care for the words labia or vulva.

My friends and I went to a sex shop, and my nursing school friend kept holding things up and saying words like "Labia Majora" , "glans" and "Vulva", I thought we were going to be thrown out and banned from the store. I threatened to leave her there if she didn't start using dirty words.

Wait... you were in a sex shop... and she was using correct terms... and did you want her to start using dirty words or did you think she was using dirty... correct terms in a sex shop won't get you kicked out. Oh this is funny... so again you were in a sex shop... surrounded by sex toys? And you were offended by words? Very interesting.

from what i understand from her post - that in the sex shops its ok to use trashy terms, but not the anatomically correct ones.

and to the few i have been to, its mostly been silence there. groups whisper not yell out loud.

He calls his penis a "pee pee" and decided on this term himself (because we EC and when he pees we would tell him he went pee.) We don't correct him. We co-bath and he also calls my vulvaa "pee pee". (honestly, I don't know what I call it. I'm fine with "penis" but I really dislike vulva, and prefer vagina but it isn't really correct, is it?) We call urine and feces "pee" and "poop" (honestly, I feel like these are "proper" terms, at leat proper enough for me!). Growing up, my mom called the vaginal area a "birdie" or "bird".

Ha ha ha :D I remember one day when DS1 was a baby (now 7) my mom overheard me talking to him about his penis while I was changing him. I was trying to get myself to the point where I could say it in a serious way, LOL....then I looked at my mom and said "Well, I have a son, it's what it is, and what if I have to talk to his doctor about it sometime?" LOL (I now have a daughter as well and 2 more little boys. I actually have had to have discussions with doctors about penises and vaginas and have managed to do so with a straight face. However, I've been through the embarassing sex-ed in school and have birthed 4 children, and I STILL don't think I know exactly the proper words for all the parts of my anatomy. Next on my list of things to do lol)

We've also used the word "private parts" for both, simply because they've heard it from other kids, and I have used it as in "Your penis/vagina are private parts. That means nobody should touch them." DD had a narrow urethra treated at age 3, and around that time and a few times after, I've specifically told her nobody should touch her there, even the doctor should not touch her there unless Mommy is also present.

That's one discussion I've had more with her than with my boys, though I'm sure I've told my oldest one nobody should look at or touch his penis....

lovin DH since 1/04, best mom for my 3 boys 10/04, 11/08, 11/10 one girlie (1/07), one 13 wk (10/13) and 5/15 just your average multigenerational living family!!

Yoni gives me the heebie jeebies. It sounds like some sort of new age musician.

LOL. I think I felt that way at one time, like it's too contrived and NewAgey, but then I got into Tantra and the sacred aspects of sexuality and our bodies. I like the word because it is non-specific and i think it's more discreet for mixed company/non medical usage. Plus, it is, well, sacred.

I get the idea of using "correct" terminology, but I just don't like how it feels. Like one time, I was talking to a neighbor; his wife was out of town for a couple days, and I didn't remember exactly why, so I asked, right? Big mistake. He told me she was at a workshop to teach people how to teach sex ed to adolescents at UU church. He proceeded to go on a tangent about how people needed to know and use the right word for the right thing and then went on to use every single word and description in graphic detail. ICKY. It really disgusted me that this guy would go out of his way to make a point about "correct terminology", like it was so PC, when in fact it was just gross. I never spoke to him alone after that. And it just cemented my stance that the words we use are perfectly sufficient. lol

Context is everything. The reason it made you uncomfortable to hear this from your neighbor is that he's male, you didn't ask him, and a discussion of sex was inappropriate. This wasn't a discussion of sex, exactly--he probably felt like it was OK to talk about this stuff because he was talking about sexual education rather than sex. I think he was wrong, since you were uncomfortable (and probably squirming) and hadn't said, "Tell me all about your philosophy of openness about teaching about the human body, please. Spare nothing, for I have all day. In fact, get the charts."

I don't think the words we use are sufficient if we don't know the parts of our own bodies. Men complain that women's bodies are mysterious, and women themselves often do not know where the clitoris is. That's kind of major! (Since our context is a discussion of whether to talk about parts by name, I think politeness permits me. You may shield your eyes if you so choose.)

In essence, I think your neighbor was right that people need to know this stuff. By the same token, it's valuable to know the names and purposes of our internal organs, but it's not polite to stand around discussing how our pancreas and Islets of Langerhans, or even bowels or lungs, are functioning with a neighbor who hasn't asked. It's true that genital organs include both internal and external parts, but we as a society learn not to discuss them in detail while standing on street corners, unless we are flouting rules of politeness.

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Originally Posted by jess in hawaii

I get the idea of using "correct" terminology, but I just don't like how it feels. Like one time, I was talking to a neighbor; his wife was out of town for a couple days, and I didn't remember exactly why, so I asked, right? Big mistake. He told me she was at a workshop to teach people how to teach sex ed to adolescents at UU church. He proceeded to go on a tangent about how people needed to know and use the right word for the right thing and then went on to use every single word and description in graphic detail. ICKY. It really disgusted me that this guy would go out of his way to make a point about "correct terminology", like it was so PC, when in fact it was just gross. I never spoke to him alone after that. And it just cemented my stance that the words we use are perfectly sufficient. lol

What I mean to say is, I don't want my child using either anatomically correct terms or euphemisms, whether polite or impolite ones, in the wrong social setting. Just as it is my job to ensure that he knows adult terms for basic human anatomy, it is also my job that he knows when it's acceptable to wield those words.

All children pass through a phase when they want to know whether strangers and friends have "a penis or a bagina." It is not merely our job to teach them that the "bagina" has several parts and that a penis comes with a scrotum and testicles, but when to talk about all of that.

My DD knows the correct terms...but I KNOW she knows them, so I don't really care what she calls her "over all" private space. She tends to call the "whole shebang" her 'gina. Pronounced the same as in "Vagina", just missing the "va" part. It's actually really sweet.

But she is also sensitive in that region and sometimes has irritation. When she does, she doesn't require any prompting to use the correct terms.

Now, when people on TV shows and in public refer to their private lady space as "va-jay jay" all embarrassed or whatever, like saying vulva/vagina/labia is "nasty" or whatever...THAT gets under my skin big time! GOD do I hate that. But a little girl who knows the correct terms referring affectionately to her special parts as "my 'gina"....I don't mind that. But again, that's because when she has a need for the specific terms, she'll say "my vulva itches".

There are a lot of "medical" or "correct" terms that I don't really care for. Vagina/vulva/labia....none of these things is accurate for me, in communicating the great blessing and joy and magical awesomeness of my lady parts. So, when I'm in the doctors office with a problem or whatever...I'll use the correct term. But in the privacy of my own home....my "girl" goes by many wild and wonderful names. ;) And so far as I'm concerned, that's a healthy kind of relationship to have with that region.

I get the idea of using "correct" terminology, but I just don't like how it feels. Like one time, I was talking to a neighbor; his wife was out of town for a couple days, and I didn't remember exactly why, so I asked, right? Big mistake. He told me she was at a workshop to teach people how to teach sex ed to adolescents at UU church. He proceeded to go on a tangent about how people needed to know and use the right word for the right thing and then went on to use every single word and description in graphic detail. ICKY. It really disgusted me that this guy would go out of his way to make a point about "correct terminology", like it was so PC, when in fact it was just gross. I never spoke to him alone after that. And it just cemented my stance that the words we use are perfectly sufficient. lol

OK, that's just plain weird on your neighbor's part. Who the heck needs to have this discussion with anyone? The contexts where this is appropriate would be very few indeed.

Truth be told, I can't remember the last time I've had to name these parts with my kids. Once they got past the "how boys and girls are different" stage at about 4, it's just never come up in conversation. When I've needed to say something, it's always been fairly general, such as "you need to keep your private parts covered when we have guests over" or even more general "no, you can't go to the park without any clothes on". Now that they're 7 and 10, I don't even need to say those things anymore. They've developed their own sense of modesty.

We use "penis" and "vulva" here, though ds and dd have decided that it should be "penis" and "vulvis", lol.

For the "whole shebang" (love that!) we say "privates", "private parts" or "bits" (that last one was introduced by dh to dd because at first *he* was too squeamish to say vulva.... though now he's gotten over his hang-ups).

Hearing my kids use the correct terms so naturally and without self-consciousness has helped me become more comfortable saying them too. I don't think I was given any word(s) for my vulva when i was a kid! Probably we just said "bottom" for everything front and back.

Kate, mom to 7 year old Djuna and 4 yr old Alden. Missing our good friend Hal the cat who died June 2, 2010